by Frank Calvillo
Synopsis
This is the story of two Helens of the City of Troy… New York. One is an older, married woman, whose obsession with life-like “reborn” baby dolls is quietly tolerated, perhaps to a fault, by her longtime husband Roy. The other one is a young performance artist whose cheating boyfriend she would probably leave, weren’t it for the fact she is pregnant. One night, what seems to be a meteorite crashes into town, unleashing, by the very next day, a wave of strange occurrences: small gravity shifts, sudden bloodshot eyes, sleepwalkers on a mission to nowhere; the general sense that the very fabric of the world itself has been ripped apart, is falling out of sync. This offers a probing mirror into their shifting relationships: in the ensuing madness, both Helens might lose something very dear to them.
H. plays Fantasia International Film Festival July 31st and August 1st!
If there’s any reason to attend Fantasia Fest this year, its for the chance to watch H., one of the most curious and beautiful sci-fi movies of all time, which already has my vote for one of the top films of the year.
Told in four chapters, H. focuses on two different women named Helen who hail from Troy, NY. The first, Helen (Robin Bartlett), is a middle-aged housewife who devotes most all of her free time to an obsession with her “reborn,” a specially crafted doll made to look like a real-life infant. The film’s second Helen (Rebecca Dayan) is a performance artist who is pregnant with her first child. Though she is looking forward to motherhood, Helen finds herself questioning her life with her sometimes unfaithful boyfriend Alex (Will Jamowitz).
One night in the dead of winter, a strange occurrence, which some assume to be a meteor, takes place and causes a wave of disturbing behavior within the town. Cars are left abandoned, people go missing, and the lives of both Helens are left forever changed.
This is one of those films that you know while its playing, just how much of a privilege it is to be watching it. There simply is no other way to put it. From the moment H. began, I was reminded about the beauty of cinema and its ability to portray the complexities of human life while also being able to tell stories full of boundless imagination.
The film’s poetic music and soft, muted colors are more akin to something out of Whit Stillman rather than a film about a meteor. However, that alone shows the level of intricately crafted work filmmakers Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia have taken with their creation. This is a sci-fi film without question. Yet rather than eye-popping visuals, H.’s sci-fi DNA lies more in the physical and emotional state in which it leaves its characters.
The life decisions we make, the things we choose to value, are the types of issues explored so thoroughly and honestly throughout H. I found it highly involving watching two women from opposite ends of the spectrum and at different junctures in their lives struggle with issues around relationships and motherhood, and noting how their views with such strong forces change. It’s an end-of-the-world type of plot, but its one which really dares to question what’s actually going to be of any true significance should such a time come.
With a film so heavy on plot and subtext, its easy to assume that the performances in H. would get left by the wayside. Yet Attieh and Garcia have cast their film so perfectly, with just the right actresses to play such two complex characters, that there was never any chance of that happening.
Dayan is simply luminous in her role, and is able to say so much with subtle gestures and her uncharacteristically stunning features. The actress brings to life a character struggling with the life she’s about to resign herself to and what that says about the kind of woman she has become.
The true heart and soul of H., though, is Bartlett. After having spent years doing character work in the shadow of such established stars like Leonardo Dicaprio, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Faye Dunaway, and Michelle Pfeiffer, the actress has at long last been given a film role worthy of her immense talent. In H., Bartlett is both tragic and funny, playing a character whose priorities have changed over the course of her life and now finds herself at a loss with how to continue in the face of events she has no control over.
H. has been making the festival rounds since late 2014 and has screened everywhere from Venice to Nashville without having secured distribution. Its a shame that a film which manages to be such a thoughtful comment on human relationships against such a fantastic background, should be denied the visibility it so rightfully deserves.
